December 14, 2012
Murder Charges Upgraded In Florida Killing of Youth
By LIZETTE ALVAREZ
The man accused of shooting and killing a Jacksonville, Fla., youth after an argument over loud music is now being charged with first-degree murder.
A grand jury indicted the defendant, Michael Dunn, 46, a software developer, on the first-degree murder charge on Thursday. Initially, he had been charged with second-degree murder. In Florida, all first-degree murder charges must be issued by a grand jury. Mr. Dunn, who lives in Satellite Beach, Fla., was also charged with three counts of attempted murder.
The death of the youth, 17-year-old Jordan Davis, is expected to become another high-profile test case for Floridas broad self-defense laws and has prompted his parents to begin a campaign to curtail the laws. Mr. Dunn said he shot Mr. Davis in self-defense after he saw a shotgun pointed his way, but the police did not find any such weapon.
The case has also drawn parallels to the death of Trayvon Martin, a youth shot by a neighborhood watch volunteer in February in Sanford, Fla., because Mr. Davis was black and Mr. Dunn is white, although Mr. Daviss parents have played down the racial issue.
Mr. Dunn is accused of killing Mr. Davis while the youth sat in a sport utility vehicle at a gas station convenience store with three other teenagers on Nov. 23. The teenagers were blasting music from the S.U.V. and Mr. Dunn, who was parked next to them, asked them to lower the volume. An argument ensued, and Mr. Dunn told his lawyer that he spied the barrel of a shotgun pointed his way from the back-seat window closest to him and heard a verbal threat to his life.
At that point, Mr. Dunn reached into his glove compartment, pulled out his handgun and shot eight rounds at the car, four of them at the back seat and four more as the car pulled away. Mr. Dunn has a concealed weapons permit.
After the episode, Mr. Dunn and his fiancée, who was in the store during the shooting, returned to the hotel room where they had been staying during a visit to Jacksonville. Mr. Dunn did not call the police, believing no one had been injured, he told his lawyer, Robin Lemonidis.
The next morning he learned from news reports that Mr. Davis had been killed and decided to drive home to Satellite Beach to surrender to the police through a neighbor who has ties to law enforcement. Brevard County police already had been sent to arrest Mr. Dunn after a witness called in his license plate number.
Ronald Davis, Mr. Daviss father, said his son had no criminal record and was returning home after a day of shopping at the mall. He said his son did not own a weapon. The teenagers in the car told him they pulled away from the store to flee the hail of bullets but returned when they saw Mr. Davis had been injured.
There wasnt a gun, Mr. Davis said in a recent interview. They were just kids, 17-year-old kids. They have never been in trouble. The kids had no weapon; they had no drugs in the car.
Mr. Dunns lawyer, Ms. Lemonidis, contended it was possible the teenagers got rid of the shotgun after they pulled out of the convenience store.
